We all know that kids need to see representations of themselves when they read. And it’s good for kids to see representations of all kinds of people when they read book and watch TV – it can help them to learn about working and living with all sorts of people.

We are always celebrating Pride month – and Pride all year around! So check out this very cool database from Business Insider. “Insider produced a database to track the historical presence of LGBTQ and gender-minority characters in animated children’s television.”

You can use it, or share it with your patrons.

You start by choosing to browse either shows, or individual characters. You can then choose a filter, if you have specific characteristics you would like to see in your cartoon.

Here is some of the background on their work; and you can read more on their website.

259 LGBTQ characters in cartoons that bust the myth that kids can’t handle inclusion

“Insider compiled a database of 259 LGBTQ characters in kids’ cartoons. Here’s how we did it.

From early Bugs Bunny to Disney villains like Ursula in “The Little Mermaid,” queer culture and gender transgression have always been present in animation.

Historically, that inclusion has been illustrated through subtextual representation, leaving viewers to extract what they will — or won’t — from coded characters and storylines.

But in the past decade, small-screen animation has undergone a noticeable shift. Representation in children’s cartoons in particular has increased in frequency, nuance, and overtness.

This change is a significant step forward despite a decades-long effort — through internal and external pressures on the industry — to keep representation discreet.

The media has often focused more on historic wins than incremental progress. Never before has this expanding timeline of LGBTQ inclusion in kids’ cartoons been presented and contextualized this way.

Although there’s been other databases that have tracked LGBTQ characters on TV, Insider has produced a first-of-its-kind database to track the historical presence of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, asexual, and other sexual- and gender-minority characters with confirmation in animated children’s television in the US.”

You can get the rest of their methodology here!

And here is a quick screenshot of some of the characters they discuss.